Archive for the ‘teachings’ Category

There is a medicine so powerful it can cure every sickness and disease known to man. It has no dangerous side effects. It is safe even in massive doses. And when taken daily according to directions, it can prevent illness altogether and keep you in vibrant health.

Does that sound too good to be true? It’s not. I can testify to you by the Word of God and by my own experience that such a supernatural medicine exists. Even more importantly, it is available to you every moment of every day.

You don’t have to call your doctor to get it. You don’t even have to drive to the pharmacy. All you must do is reach for your Bible, open to Proverbs 4:20-24 and follow the instructions you find there:

“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health (Hebrew: medicine) to all their flesh.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.”

As simple as they might sound, those four verses contain the supernatural prescription to divine health. It’s a powerful prescription that will work for anyone who will put it to work.

If you have received healing by the laying on of hands, following this prescription will help you maintain that healing. If you have believed for healing, but are experiencing lingering symptoms, it will help you stand strong until you are completely symptom-free. And if you are healthy now, it will help you stay that way–not just for a day or a week, but for the rest of your life!

Powerful Medicine

To understand how this prescription works, you must realize that the Word of God is more than just good information. It actually has life in it. As Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth [or makes alive]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Every time you take the Word into your heart, believe it and act on it, that life of which Jesus spoke, the very LIFE of God Himself, is released in you. You may have read the healing scriptures over and over again. You may know them as well as you know your own name. Yet every time you read them or hear them preached, they bring you a fresh dose of God’s healing power. Each time, they bring life to you and deliver God’s medicine to your flesh.

That’s because the Word is like a seed. Hebrews 4:12 says it is “alive and full of power–making it active, operative, energizing and effective…” (The Amplified Bible). It actually carries within it the power to fulfill itself.

When you planted the Word about the new birth in your heart, then believed and acted on it, that Word released within you the power to be born again. By the same token, when you plant the Word about healing in your heart, believe and act on it, that Word will release God’s healing power in you.

“But, Gloria,” you may say, “I’ve met people who know the Bible from cover to cover and still can’t get healed!”

No doubt you do. But if you’ll look back at God’s prescription, you’ll find it doesn’t say anything about “knowing” the Bible. It says, attend to the Word.

When you attend to something, you give your attention to it. You make it top priority. You set aside other things so you can focus on it. When a nurse is attending to a patient, she constantly looks after him. She doesn’t just leave him lying alone in his hospital room while she goes shopping. If someone asks her about her patient, she doesn’t feel it’s sufficient to say, “Oh, yes. I know him.”

In the same way, if you’re attending to the Word, you won’t leave it lying unopened on the coffee table all day. You won’t spend your day focusing your attention on other things.

On the contrary, you’ll do what Proverbs 4 says to do. You’ll continually incline your ear to God’s Word.

Inclining your ear includes more than just putting your physical ears in a position to hear the Word being preached (although that, in itself, is very important). It also requires you to actively engage with God’s Word, to believe it and obey it.

In fact, The Amplified Bible translates Proverbs 4:20, this way: “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings.” Submitting to the Word means making adjustments in your life. Say, for example, you hear the Word in Philippians 4:4 that you are to “rejoice in the Lord always.” If you’ve been doing a lot of griping and complaining, you’ll have to change in order to submit to that Word. You’ll have to repent and alter your behavior.

Take as Directed

In addition to inclining your ear to the Word of God, the Proverbs 4 prescription also says you must keep it before your eyes and not let it depart from your sight. In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus reveals why that’s so important. He says, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Your eyes are the gateway to your body. If your eye (or your attention) is on the darkness, or the sickness that is in your body, there will be no light to expel it. If, however, the eyes of your heart are trained strictly on the Word, your whole body will eventually be filled with light, and healing will be the result.

Granted, it isn’t easy to keep your attention centered on the Word like that. It takes real effort and commitment. It may require getting up a little earlier in the morning or turning off the television at night. But I urge you to do whatever it takes to take God’s medicine exactly as directed.

It won’t work any other way!

That really shouldn’t be so surprising. After all, we wouldn’t expect natural medication to work for us if we didn’t take it as prescribed.

No rational person would set a bottle of pills on the night stand and expect those pills to heal them. No one would call the doctor and say, “Hey, doc! These pills don’t work. I’ve carried them with me everywhere I go–I keep them in the car with me, I set them on my desk at work, I even have them next to me when I sleep at night–but I don’t feel any better.”

That would be ridiculous. Yet, spiritually speaking, some people do it all the time. They cry and pray and beg God to heal them, all the while ignoring the medicine He’s provided. (They might take a quick dose on Sunday when they go to church, but the rest of the week they don’t take time for the Word at all!)

Why do people who love God and believe the Bible act that way? I think it’s because they don’t understand how putting the Word in their heart can affect their physical bodies. They don’t see how something spiritual can change something natural.

If you’ll read the Bible, however, you’ll see that spiritual power has been affecting this physical world ever since time began. In fact, it was spiritual power released in the form of God’s Word that brought this natural world into existence in the first place.

When you realize that God’s Word is the force that originally brought into being everything you can see and touch–including your physical body–it’s easy to believe that the Word is still capable of changing your body today. It makes perfect sense!

Faith in Two Places

“I’d have no problem at all believing God’s Word would heal me if He’d speak to me out loud like He did in Genesis,” you might say, “but He hasn’t!”

No, and He probably won’t either. God no longer has to thunder His Word down at us from heaven. These days He lives in the hearts of believers, so He speaks to us from the inside instead of the outside. What’s more, when it comes to covenant issues like healing, we don’t even have to wait on Him to speak.

God has already done His part. So we must do ours. We must take the Word He has spoken, put it inside us and let it change us from the inside out.

You see, everything–including healing–starts inside you. Your future is literally stored up in your heart. As Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).

That means if you want external conditions to be better tomorrow, you’d better start changing your internal condition today. You’d better start taking the Word of God and depositing it in your heart just like you deposit money in the bank. Then you can make withdrawals on it whenever you need it. When sickness attacks your body, you can tap into the healing Word you’ve put inside you and run that sickness off!

Exactly how do you do that?

You open your mouth and speak–not words of sickness and disease, discouragment and despair, but words of healing and life, faith and hope. You follow the last step of God’s divine prescription and “Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee” (verse 24). In short, you speak the Words of God and call yourself healed in Jesus’ Name.

Initially, that may not be easy for you to do. But you must do it anyway because for the faith to work it must be in two places–in your heart and in your mouth. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

Some people say faith will move mountains. But, the scriptural truth is, faith won’t even move a molehill for you unless you release it with the words of your mouth.

The Lord Jesus told us that “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith,” (Mark 11:23). Notice the word say appears three times in that verse while the word believe appears only once. Obviously, Jesus wanted us to know that our words are crucial.

It’s also important to note that He did not instruct us to talk about the mountain, He instructed us to talk to it! If we’re going to obey Him, we must talk to the mountain of sickness and cast it out of our lives. The Lord told Charles Capps, I have told My people they can have what they say, but they are saying what they have! Instead of saying, “I’m healed,” most Christians say, “I’m sick,” and reinforce the sickness or disease.

It shouldn’t. It didn’t bother Abraham. He went around calling himself the Father of Nations for years even though he was as childless as could be. Why did he do it? Because “he believed…God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). He was “fully persuaded that, what [God] had promised, he was able also to perform” (verse 21).

You see, Abraham wasn’t “trying” to believe God. He wasn’t just mentally assenting to it. He had immersed himself in God’s Word until that Word was more real to him than the things he could see. It didn’t matter to him that he was 100 years old. It didn’t matter to him that Sarah was far past the age of childbearing and that she had been barren all her life. All that mattered to him was what God said, because he knew His Word was true.

If you don’t have that kind of faith for healing right now, then stay in the Word until you get it! After all, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Read, study, meditate, listen to tapes, watch videos of good, faith-filled teaching, and watch our weekly and daily television broadcast EVERY DAY until God’s Word about healing is more real to you than the symptoms in your body. Keep on keeping on until, like Abraham, you stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief, but grow strong in faith as you give praise and glory to God (Romans 4:20, The Amplified Bible).

Having Done All…Stand!

As you put God’s prescription for health to work in your life, don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Although many times healing comes instantly, there also are times when it takes place more gradually.

So don’t let lingering symptoms cause you to doubt. After all, when you go to the doctor, you don’t always feel better right away. The medication he gives you often takes some time before it begins to work. But you don’t allow the delay to discourage you. You just follow the doctor’s orders and expect to feel better soon. Really you are “treating” your spirit that is the source of supernatural life and health for your physical body.

Release that same kind of confidence in God’s medicine. Realize that the moment you begin to take it, the healing process begins. Keep your expectancy high and make up your mind to continue standing on the Word until you can see and feel the total physical effects of God’s healing power.

When the devil whispers words of doubt and unbelief to you, when he suggests that the Word is not working, deal with those thoughts immediately. Cast them down (see II Corinthians 10:5). Speak out loud if necessary and say, “Devil, I rebuke you. I bind you from my mind. I will not believe your lies. God has sent His Word to heal me, and His Word never fails. That Word went to work in my body the instant I believed it, so as far as I am concerned, my days of sickness are over. I declare that Jesus bore my sickness, weakness and pain, and I am forever free.”

Then, “having done all to stand, stand” until your healing is fully manifested (see Ephesians 6:12-14). Steadfastly hold your ground. Don’t waver. For as James 1:6-8 says, “…He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed…. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Above all, keep your attention trained on the Word–not on lingering symptoms. Be like Abraham who “considered not his own body” (Romans 4:19). Instead of focusing on your circumstances, focus on what God has said to you.

Develop an inner image of yourself with your healing fully manifested. See yourself well. See yourself whole. See yourself healed in every way.

Since what you keep before your eyes and in your ears determines what you will believe in your heart and what you will act on, make the Word your number one priority. Keep taking God’s medicine as directed and trust the Great Physician to do His wonderful healing work in you!

Like this:

As I was studying the word this morning, I felt impressed of The Lord to write out those scriptures my dad taught me as a child. As I pondered on them, they kept coming to me like a river.. Chapter and verse… Word for word.
I want to encourage others to remember what the Lord put in their heart as a child, through our parents. Forward this BLOG to others and comment on it and we can all learn from each other. We all have different paths, but the same word that is the same yesterday, today and Forever!

Reminds me of these scriptures:

Hebrews 13:7-8 (KJV)
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

Isaiah 55:11 (KJV)
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Here are the Scriptures my Dad taught me when I was young:

Isaiah 53:4-5 (KJV)
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

John 1:1 (KJV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Romans 6:23 (KJV)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 8:28 (KJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

1 Corinthians 15:57 (KJV)
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Philippians 4:19 (KJV)
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

1 John 1:9 (KJV)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So what are those scriptures that your loved one taught you when you were little that you still remember? CHAPTER AND VERSE?

Oh and my mom sat down with me and taught me to memorize this one:

Joshua 1:8 (KJV)
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

About two months ago I was praying with my friend and we were interceding for our siblings to grow closer to the Lord and all of the sudden I stopped the prayer and quoted the verse above from Joshua 1:8
My prayer partner asked me about it and I prophesied that our siblings would remember those scriptures our parents had taught us as children.

The next day I received a text out of the blue from my brother with Joshua 1:8…

This is not typical of my brother.. He couldn’t quite remember who taught it to him.. But he remembered that this book of the law shall not depart from out of my mouth..the whole verse!

The Word of God is true!

Psalm 119:11 (KJV)
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.”
— John 10:27

We were created with a deep longing within us to truly hear our Master’s voice. We desire to do His will. But we are not made to be mechanical robots that just march around doing “ordained things.” Fellowship with our Creator is our birthright. If this yearning for intimate relationship with the lover of our soul is to be fulfilled, then hearing His voice is a must.

Jesus came to restore mankind into the sweet, divine fellowship that Adam and Eve first knew in the garden. For this potential to be reached, close, intimate communication is a must. To have good communication, though, we must learn to “speak up” and to push the “pause button” in order to listen. We have to restore the lost art of taking time to expectantly listen.

It Takes Two
Fellowship is not a one-way road. It takes at least two, with both attentively in one another’s presence sharing in communion. Our relationship with our Papa was never meant to be a long distance telephone conversation. Availability is God’s middle name ― just aching to spend time with us alone. He yearns to hear from you! He desires to hear from you! Give Him something to respond to. Talk and then take time to listen.

The greatest key to hearing God’s voice is cultivating a “love-based” relationship. I want to hear His voice and intimately know Him ― not just on a casual basis but a daily vibrant one. Sounds to me like you want this kind of two-way love relationship with God also. So go with me now on a journey of beginning to hear and love God’s voice.

We Each Have a Desperate Need
We all need to see and hear what our Papa is doing. We need to hear and know the voice of our Father, the Son Jesus, and that of the Holy Spirit, our Helper, Guide and Comforter. Again, it’s all about being in God’s presence, how else are we going to see and hear, firsthand?

Perhaps you, too, will add your name to the list of those who heard God speak and then grew strong in faith to do mighty exploits in His great name. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the words of Christ. Need another level of faith for what lies ahead? Then take time to listen for His voice with all your heart. All things are possible to them who believe!

Dear Lord, I want to hear Your voice and learn Your ways. Be my Teacher and Guide. I want to know You, be a disciple of Christ Jesus, and have sweet communion with You. I want to hear You, have faith and obey! Help Lord, your servant is listening! Amen!

This last weekend I did a short trip to Pasadena, California and ministered at HRock Church at their Sunday morning services. I shared a message entitled, You Were Meant for Ministry: Every Believer a Priest. The sweet glorious presence of the Lord came rushing in on the people as we “experienced the message” and didn’t just sit under another good teaching.

Around a month ago I had a profound prophetic encounter while ministering in Brazil that I am going to share with you this week – Come Again Holy Spirit! Watch next week as well for part two of this encounter which I am calling The Start of the 4th Wave Movement.

Some years ago, my wife, Ruth, was reading the draft of a book I was writing. When she finished a section describing the terrible downward spiral of our nation’s moral standards and the idolatry of worshiping false gods such as technology and sex, she startled me by exclaiming, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

She was probably thinking of a passage in Ezekiel where God tells why He brought those cities to ruin. “Now this was the sin of … Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen” (Ezekiel 16:49–50, NIV).

I wonder what Ruth would think of America if she were alive today. In the years since she made that remark, millions of babies have been aborted and our nation seems largely unconcerned. Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.

Just a few weeks ago in a prominent city in the South, Christian chaplains who serve the police department were ordered to no longer mention the Name of Jesus in prayer. It was reported that during a recent police-sponsored event, the only person allowed to pray was someone who addressed “the being in the room.” Similar scenarios are now commonplace in towns across America. Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone—except God.

Yet the farther we get from God, the more the world spirals out of control.

My heart aches for America and its deceived people. The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance. In Jonah’s day, Nineveh was the lone world superpower—wealthy, unconcerned, and self-centered. When the Prophet Jonah finally traveled to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s warning, people heard and repented.

I believe the same thing can happen once again, this time in our nation. It’s something I long for, and my son Franklin recently shared a vision for perhaps the greatest challenge in the history of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association—to launch an outreach called My Hope with Billy Graham that would bring the Gospel into neighborhoods and homes in every corner of America next year.

BGEA has already taken My Hope to more than 50 nations. We’ve worked in close partnership with local churches across each country, and those churches have reported millions of life-changing decisions for Christ. Carrying out a nationwide American version of this evangelistic outreach will be an enormous undertaking, but in my spirit I know God has called us to do this, and I pray He will stir your heart to join us in prayer and support.

Franklin will share more about the project with you as the planning develops. In the meantime, all this year Franklin and his son Will are preaching “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21, ESV) at Crusade events across North America—from Texas to Canada—and God has blessed the work. Already tens of thousands have heard the Gospel, and many have responded, especially young people.

As I write, I am in the middle of a busy summer enjoying visits with many of my grandchildren and other family members, but also working hard on a new book that addresses some dangerous illusions about eternal salvation that are becoming increasingly accepted in many places. I want to point the world to what the Bible says.

Although age and health restrict my mobility and my stamina, not to mention my eyesight and hearing, I am thankful for the days God has given me, and I am humbled by His continued hand of favor on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The Lord draws people to Himself daily through BGEA’s various evangelistic ministries, and I am so deeply grateful.

The next Crusade event is August 18–19 with Franklin in Green Bay, Wis., followed by two in September, in Buffalo, N.Y., and Ottawa, Ontario. Please join me in praying for the power of the Holy Spirit on the preaching of the Gospel.

May God bless you,

Billy Graham

P.S. – We have many invitations and opportunities to carry out so many kinds of outreach, but we just don’t have the finances to do them all. We need the help of friends like you. Your gift this month—and just as important, your prayers—is an investment that will show results for all eternity.

In a prophetic vision I find myself watching world events unfolding on a gigantic television screen. This screen was enormous much like what is in the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. Suddenly there was a huge bright flash, I was shown a newsflash a Divine Messenger stated, “we interrupt this broadcast for this special news bulletin. “Seekers Will Be Finders! And Finders Will Be Sought!” In the realm of the Spirit there was great excitement at this announcement.

This is the most exciting time in world history to be alive; the entire world seems to be in chaos and confusion desperately they are seeking answers. This will prove to be the Church’s finest hour; the Lord will release the much-needed wisdom as we seek HIM. The world will beat a path to our door seeking the light. Without doubt we find ourselves living in an extremely significant season, critical days, that demand our very best (Romans 13:11-14). It is time to arise and shine (Isaiah 60:1-8). Some things have been reserved for these end-times; it’s our honor as kings to search them out (see Proverbs 25:2).

We Are On Divine Assignment

God could have permitted any generation in history to be alive during these decisive days, however He chose us! We are truly blessed to have the opportunity to be alive. We are on Divine Assignment! Signs of the end-times are unfolding about us daily (see Matthew 24:). Prepare to behold the intervention of God (Isaiah 64:1-2)! Now is the time to seek the Lord with all your heart.

Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.

Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:12-13

In our day of secular skepticism it is sad to see many today asking the same question posed in 2 Kings 3:11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here by whom we may inquire of the Lord? One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, Elisha son of Shaphat, who served Elijah, is here.

“Is there not a prophet in the land that we may inquire of him?” Many are posing the same question today! The answer is a resounding yes! The true prophets of God must arise and take their place. Sounding a true and trusted trumpet call awakening the warriors and calling for the army of God to arise (see Joel 2:1-3).

Words of Wisdom

God will so anoint your words they will become as apple of gold in settings of silver see Proverb 25:11. Your words will be extremely helpful and healing see Proverbs 12:18. It is time to receive the tongue of a taught one knowing how to reply to desperate people seeking guidance and advice (see Isaiah 50:4).

1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore! May our heart’s response be that recorded in Psalms 27:8, which states: You said, Seek My face inquire for and require My presence as your vital need. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence). Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require of necessity…”

A Preview of Coming Events:

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba

1 Kings 10:1-10

The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of. He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain.

The queen of Sheba heard Solomon’s wisdom and saw the palace he had built. She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed.

She said to King Solomon, “What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom is true! But I couldn’t believe it until I had come and seen it all for myself. But I didn’t hear even half of it; your wisdom and wealth are much greater than what I was told. How fortunate are your wives! And how fortunate your servants, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings!

Praise the LORD your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king of Israel. Because his love for Israel is eternal, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice.”

She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. The amount of spices she gave him was by far the greatest that he ever received at any time.

This is about to occur again political leaders from around the world will be coming to the true Church seeking wisdom and advice, we too must have the word of the Lord that will leave them breathless and amazed. We are to be a city set high on a hill giving light (see Matthew 5:14).

Now is the time to draw near to the Lord, surrendering to HIM every area of our lives, these are the days of great conquest we are called to be brave bold victorious overcomers in everyway in every day.